More 28 Months Matters

At 28 months, this is my favourite song which I will ask Mama to sing each time we are in Papa's car and when Mama wants to put me to sleep.

This month, my favourite toy is the shape sorter. Mama bought me one a few months ago but I only regained my interest in it last month. I am really good at it as I manipulate the ball to find a hole that fits the shape of the block in my hands. Mama suspected that I kind of memorised where to put each shape.

Also, I am pretty fascinated by vending machines. Perhaps I think all vending machines dispense flavoured drinks. During a visit to Alexandra Hospital, Papa taught me to insert coins into a vending machine that dispenses fruits in sealed plastic cups. I got to see for myself how the cup is dispensed through the glass panel in front of the machine. So if there is ever a need for me to while away time in a hospital, I will be brought to a vending machine and given a small coin or two so that I can practise inserting coins into the machine.

In fact, 2 weeks ago, I was at a vending machine and somehow, I just had enough money to pay for a drink. According to Aunty Cvannelle, I just inserted the coins I had and jumped to press a button. Then a canned drink was dropped down and there I got my drink. Aunty Cvannelle said everything happened so fast. I just inserted the coins, jumped, pressed and down came my drink!

4th grand uncle said that canned of drink is my 战利品, which, loosely translated, means my victory gain after a hard fight (with the machine). 4th grand uncle said I am very smart. As the canned drink was chilled and too cold for me to hold with my bare hands, I actually carried it in my arms and used my body to support the can. Alas, I didn't get to drink it. Mama brought it home, left it in the fridge and my parents drank it a few days later. And I didn't remember it at all!

At 28 months, I am still at the exploratory stage where I learn by exploring. That was what Aunty Chew Poh, Mama's cousin said. See, here I am, trying to figure out what is right at the below when we went to Mac Ritchie reservoir a couple of weeks back.

Because of that, my parents had taken from Aunty Chew Poh 6 pieces of plastic panels which has been set up as a confinement area for me at Nai Nai's house. More of that in another post. Aunty Chew Poh meant to sell the panels because her son has outgrown them but when she heard from Mama that Mama is thinking of buying me a play pen to place at Nai nai's house for me, she offered the panels to us. Thanks be to God who always provides for us. This has helped Mama save at least $100. :D

Mac Ritchie Reservoir

A few Saturdays ago, Papa brought me and Mama to Mac Ritchie Reservoir. When Mama was a school teacher, she used to come here once a year for annual cross-country race organised by the school.

My parents had not been here for a long time and they were pleasantly surprised by the changes. The flag raising area had been renovated and some wooden platforms had been set up and so it's probably not quite suitable for flag raising ceremonies anymore. There's even a small fountain there.

See the small fountain I am standing next to. :)

There is even a small cafe called Mushroom Cafe.
My favourite part of the reservoir is probably the vending machine.

We were there 4 days after Mama injured her toe and so she sat at the cafe and waited as me and Papa walked around other parts of the reservoir.

Papa and I did not walk really very far and we soon came back to join Mama at the cafe. We had our lunch there before Mama went for her tuition at Newton area. We will probably be back again. Mama wonders where we will go tomorrow morning for Papa's weekly morning park tours.... :D

I Fell Down

Last Wednesday, when Mama went to pick me up from school, teacher Yati told her I had a freak accident. Mama understood that I might had missed a step when I was trying to climb up some shelf when I was with my friends.

Initially, Mama did not think too much of it as I seemed active like my usual self. After sending me to her ex-GP, she brought me to KKH A&E at the advice of the doctor. The doctor thought it seemed like a bad fall and he will leave it to the staff at the emergency department to conduct further investigation. Papa came to meet us at KKH even though he was supposed to have a department retreat at Suntec City.

Thank God that the doctor at the emergency department confidently said that I should be fine after examining me. Mama brought me home after the doctor had seen me and Papa went back to his retreat. :)

Marina Barrage

Here I am, at the wading pool at Marina Barrage. My parents brought me here yesterday and the weather was good. I enjoyed myself at the pool though Papa and Mama didn't join me at the pool.



Mama did not want to risk infecting her injured toe and Papa was not prepared to get wet and so I was in the pool on my own most of the time.

But I certainly didn't feel lonely because I had fun on my own! In fact, so much fun that Papa had to take me out by force when he wanted to explore other parts of the barrage. This is Papa taking me out of the pool for the first time when Mama wanted to remove my diaper because someone warned her that my diaper may disintegrate in the pool and dirty the pool. You can imagine he did something similar to me when he wanted us to leave the pool altogether. :)

Mama also discovered the view of the back of my head looks very nice when I wet it. I purposely lie down in the pool and just when the water level reaches my ears, I will get up. I did this many times in the pool. Check out my sleek hairdo. :)

After checking out the barrage, we had lunch at a Peranakan restaurant at Shenton Way. As I only ate a few pieces of cornflakes during breakfast, I was really hungry and wolfed down the keropok that were served as appetitiser.

I fell asleep in the car on our way home and slept all the way until about 4pm. I was really tired out partly because I had woken up at around 6.30am in the morning. ;p

Snack Time

Hi all, we are supposed to have dinner at Nai Nai's place later. Mama wanted to run some errands. She is also concerned that I may be hungry and dinner is not yet ready when we arrived at Nai Nai's place and so she brought me to Yew Tee Point to run her errands and get me a snack.

Mama actually bought me a durian pancake. I have not eaten durian pancake for quite a while and you can see it's actually finger-licking good.

Sssh... don't tell my Papa about this though. He hates durians and don't think it's a fruit that should actually be eaten. :p

And guess what, I actually ate more than a bowl of porridge when we had dinner at Nai nai's house. :)

28 Months Old!

Dear all, I am 28 months old today!

This picture was taken at a shopping mall at Pasir Ris on my 28th month birthday. Nope, we didn't go there to celebrate my birthday. We were there because Papa read about a child-friendly mall at Pasir Ris and so there we went on Sunday after church and breakfast at Amoy Hawker Centre.

At 28 months, I still love the song Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and I can enjoy it almost anytime and anywhere probably except at Nai Nai's house because I am too busy exploring her place to bother myself with this song. That aside, I even know how to sing the song. Yup, no kidding, I can sing the song. But only 1 word, "Head". Somehow, when I want Mama to sing the song to me, I will say/sing "head" but I will pitch my voice higher as if I am really singing it and so there you have it, my one-word song and the lyric goes "Head".

At 28 months old, I communicate more clearly, saying more words like "baby", "ok" (though I say ok without really meaning it). My most used word is "this" as I refer to things that caught my attention. The other day, Papa brought back 4 small packets of raisins from his meeting for me to snack on. The raisins were kept in the kitchen, meant to be given to me one packet at at time. There was once when I saw the raisins, referred to it and said "This, this". Mama knew I wanted to eat the raisins and so she gave me a packet after my nap.

Recently, I learnt another word and it goes "eeeeee". Yup, that means dirty. There are many dirty things around me like the balls of dust that fell off a fan and I have got lots of chances to say "eeeee"..

I also communicate via non-verbal means. This month, I started "telling" Mama or Papa to sit beside me by patting the sitting area next to me.

This month, I get more positive feedback from Teacher Yati and I show a lot of eagerness to go to school when I am at the corridor outside the classroom.


On a few occasions when I arrive early and the classroom door is still closed, I actually knock on the door. When I enter the classroom, I will turn back and say bye bye to Mama.

I also show understanding of biding farewell by saying bye bye. I not only curl my fingers but I also say bye bye. I say bye bye to my neighbours whenever I meet them at the lift lobby and they are taking the lift to their apartments. Once when Mama was giving me a shower, I peed. I actually said bye bye to my urine before Mama washed it away using water from the shower head.

A fortnight ago, Mama hurt her toe and I saw her blood on the floor. The last 2 weeks, I kept saying "ow-fu" when I see Mama's injured toe because when Mama's toe hurts, she would say "ouch". I wanted to say "ouch " too but it just comes out as "ow-fu".

I am also pretty strategic. Without anyone teaching me, I had learnt to use my body as a shield. for example, if I am playing with Mama's handphone and Mama wants it back, she will ask for it from me. If I do not want to return it to her, I will turn my body away from her thus shielding the phone from her using my body. Don't basketball players do the same when they use their bodies to block their opponents?

See, this is me being strategic again. Mama wanted to wipe my face but I refuse and so I hide my face in the armchair. Clever, yah? :)

This month, my parents noticed I had somewhat became more "sticky" as I seek more physical contact. When Mama feeds me my meals in the living room, I sometimes climb up to her lap and lean against her. Mama said she felt like she is my human throne as I lean backwards against her body.

Mama also started to let me play with the games in her Nokia phone though I am no good at it at all. When I see her handphone, I will say "car, car". You see, there is this game where the player is the driver of a car in a race and it's somewhat like the Daytona game Mama used to play in her younger days. Since Mama introduced this game to me, I will say "car, car" when I see her handphone.

This month, we had also been spending Saturday mornings exploring various parks in Singapore as Mama had her tuition shifted to Saturday afternoons. This is me at Mac Ritchie Reservoir where Papa took us. Mama injured her toe and rested at the cafe, reading her bible while Papa and me walked around the reservoir.

Talking about Papa, since Mama's toe injury, Papa has been taking care of me more. He was the one who came home to bring me to school on the morning Mama injured her toe. Though he was very busy with meetings in school over the following 3 days, he still came home and bathed me every evening. Then he had to take care of me while Mama showers. It has been hard on Papa.

But no worries! Mama's toe is already well and now, she can bathe me again in the evening. Yeah!

Feedback From Teacher Yati

Today, after Mama picked me up from school, Teacher Yati told Mama that I did independent work in class today! I actually used the glue and sticked something for a craft by myself! Another step of growth. Hurray! :)

BIB

See, this is me in a laundry basket at about 6 months old.

Fast Forward to almost 2 years later... tada!!

I had grown so much!!

Yesterday, Mama took this series of photos of me in a basket that is used to hold the toys in the playroom of Covenant Evangelical Free Church. When I saw her with her handphone, trying to snap a picture of me, I said "Cheese, Cheese" and I tried to smile for her too. But she is getting old and was just not quick enough and so all she got was pictures as such.. ;p

That said, there were a few ok ones though and Mama's favourite from this series is this one below:

Just in case you are wondering where is the bib, no, this post is not about a piece of cloth used to wipe my mouth after eating. It's about a Boy In Basket..... cheers! :)

I Brought This Home

Hey guys! Guess what I came home with after school today?

Jelly! Yumm!!

Mama actually used this as an enticement for me to go home straight after school as she did not want me to stray off during our journey home and so she kept reminding me that I can eat the jelly when we reach home. I actually carried this box of jelly all the way home!

True to her promise, Mama washed my hands soon after we reached home and sat me on the high chair. Then she gave me a spoon to eat the jelly with.

But I didn't really like the jelly. I tried eating is in a more hearty manner.

But nope, I didn't like the taste any better. I just took a few mouthfuls and refused to eat anymore. See, this is what is left behind. What a waste!

Then again, it may not be a bad thing. Mama discovered that the pink colouring from the jelly actually dyed my spoon pink such that scrubbing it with my baby detergent could not get rid of the stain. Mama then used the same spoon to fed me porridge and after my lunch, my spoon was white again. Guess my digestive tract will be a nice pink shade for a while. *gulp* ;p

27 Months Old Add-ons

This is me after school when I am a little more than 27 months old. Nowadays, I am getting more cheeky. Just about last month, I actually said "hee hee hee" and faked an asthmatic kind of breathing with it. When Mama first heard it, she thought I had an asthma attack but I didn't seem to have any breathing difficulty. In fact, I was not even ill. How about that for an aspiring actor? :)

I am also learning to imitate the actions I see on TV. There is this Okto channel advertisement which features a crying toddler girl and the question "What can make the girl happy?" will flash on the screen. When I see this crying toddler girl, I will also whine and pretend to cry. Mama knows this is because I had understood what I had seen on the screen. I see the crying toddler and I understand she is crying. That said, sometimes, Mama is concerned I may pick up wrong ideas from the TV programme I watch.

(Mama took the above photo when she was supposed to be preparing lunch and left me to the "care" of the TV agai. Nowadays, I just love to turn up the cushions on the sofa or put them on the floor so that I can sit on the wooden structure)

Papa also commented that I seemed to have understood more of the content of the TV programmes that I watch. One of my current favourite shows is Super Why which airs at 12noon on weekday. It's a cartoon programme that features fairy tales being read and there are 4 super characters who may do things such as change the ending of the story, or switched the words in a sentence around to change the meaning of the sentences. 1 of the characters will initiate the spelling of some words that appear in the story. Mama suspects I am saying more letters like "r" and "k" because I had seen these letters being read out on TV.

Last month, Hi-5 came back to Okto Channel and now, I usually watch Hi-5 from 12.30pm to 1pm. Wait, no, I don't usually watch Hi-5. I DAILY watch it when it's on air and if Mama and I are at home. Mama is such a TV addict and she enjoys watching Hi-5 too.

And, this month, I am pointing to more things too and Mama will read them to me. For instance, I will point to the prints of ladybugs and flowers on my bedsheet and Mama will say the name of the object that I point. Once, I pointed to the sweets in a book and Mama gave me a sweet to help me learn the idea of a sweet better. Alas, I learnt that if I want to eat a sweet, I will point to the same page in the book. But Mama does not always give me a sweet to eat.

At 27 months old, I love to play hide and seek with my parents in my own house. I love the thrill of locating my parents.

Sometimes, I will initiate a game by pretending to close the door of my parents' room or the study. Just this afternoon, I was in my parents' room and brought the door almost to a close. I wanted to see how Mama will react to this. She just closed the door for me such that I was alone in the room by myself and I cried. Mama quickly opened the door for me. I am still afraid of being "locked" alone in my own room. The good thing is, I can reach the door knob if I tiptoe and it will probably be a few months' time that I will be able to open the door on my own.

Sometimes, Papa's mischievous self will manifest and he will hide behind the door with Mama. But they hide in such a way that the door seemed open as normal and I can't figure out they are actually behind the door. At times, I will cry a little maybe because I thought my parents had disappeared.

This month, I am pretty intrigued by the law of conservation. I sometimes put small toys or my tutu through my collar into the T-shirt I am wearing and they would seemed to have disappeared. It also seems to Mama that I had also discovered that the small toys can reappear through the hem of the same shirt or I can retrieve the "disappeared" toys from the collar where they went in.

Last week, there were a few cool evenings and Mama decided to let me wear a long-sleeved shirt after my evening shower. It's a pretty amazing shirt, you know, almost like magic. Mama will pull my hands through the long sleeves and at times, after wearing the shirt, it's as if my hands had disappeared because I can't see them but I know they are still there under the long sleeve.

My song of the month is Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Mama recently bought me a CD with nursery rhymes and she made sure this song is included. This is me, at Kiddy Palace at the end of June.

I was playing with the toy fixtures on some walkers when I heard Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes being played. I actually stopped fiddling with the fixtures and started pointing to various parts of my body as mentioned in the song lyrics. Mama quickly snapped a shot because she thought it was so funny of me.

My parents are currently finding it difficult to dine outside as I seem to refuse to sit in a babychair and wait for them to finish their food. We ate at Mayim restaurant last Sunday and perhaps the food was not to my liking but I actually wanted to leave the table after a few mouthfuls. In the end, I managed to have my way when Papa quickly finished his dinner to take me out to the mall for a walk. Before that, I actually dropped my plastic drinking cup from my high chair and it made a loud noise that could be heard in the entire restaurant. Papa said his "face" had been "totally thrown away" by me. That was a loose translation of his complaint that I had thoroughly embarassed him. ;p

Hopefully, things get better when I am 3 years old. Meanwhile, my parents just have to live with me, for better, for worse. haha.. :)

More Blocks Formation

One of things that is interesting as Mama mentioned is that the blocks allowed me to build different looking structures depending on the order I stack them up. Here are 2 more styles. Mama is proud to say that I built them on my own and just now, I even applauded my own efforts when I had stacked up the blocks.. :)

Tokyo Day #2

When Papa went to explore the area around Sunshine City Prince Hotel on our first night in Tokyo, he found this 24 hour shop which sells Japanese rice and noodles. So he brought us here for our breakfast here on Tuesday morning. This meal is meant to energise us for our trip to Disneyland.

We went to Disneyland by train. Clever Papa actually figured out how to get there even though the train system in Tokyo can be pretty confusing. When we arrived at Disneyland, Papa bought the tickets and into Disneyland we went. Going to Disneyland is Papa's dream come true.

This is me, more interested in another kind of duck. :)

After a very frugal lunch of popcorn and milk, I fell asleep and missed the parade of floats with many well known disney characters. What a waste!

Papa and Mama took the opportunity to wheel me around in my pram and enjoy themselves with minimal disturbance from me. This is Papa, trying his skills. He used to be a marksman when he was in NPCC as well as in army, you know. ;)

ert

But all is not lost. When I woke up, we took this "sampan" across a small river and went to an area with some rocks and this suspension bridge.


I actually crossed this suspension bridge a few times because I enjoyed the experience of crossing this bridge. ha. :)

Next, Mama and I queued up for 30 minutes for this fun ride where we sat in an elephant seat and were elevated to a few meters above the ground. I was pretty apprehensive and unwilling when the lady attendant placed a belt around me before the ride began but we enjoyed the ride nonetheless.

Then we enjoyed another cruise in a building called It's A Small World. It's actually an indoor cruise where the song It's A Small World was played repeatedly as we saw figurines of children from all over the world, dressed in different national costumes. Papa had taken this ride on his own just before I took my nap and he said I will enjoy it. As it was a little dark inside, I probably felt more secure with my parents near me.

Talking about queuing, the Japanese were actually so "efficient" that there were signboards that tell us how long the queue would take from the moment we stand at the signboard until we take the ride.

After the Small World cruise, my parents went to other parts of Disneyland and we left at around 5pm as Papa did not want to have dinner at Disneyland and Mama was not exactly keen to stay for the fireworks in the evening. Maybe, we will come here again when I am older. :)

Ice Cream

Last Sunday, we went to Pizza Hut at Bukit Timah Plaza for dinner. This ice cream came as part of the kids' meal my parents ordered for me. Mama took a picture as she thought it looks quite nice. Papa was too full to eat the ice cream and so Mama and I had it all to ourselves.. yum...

My (borrowed) Building Blocks

A couple of weeks ago, my parents brought me to san yi po's place and she dug out these building blocks for me to play. They are made of many square-shaped blocks which can be put together to form a pyramid. They actually kept me occupied for about 10 minutes or more at san yi po's place. This allowed my parents to talk to san yi po and her husband while I played quietly on my own with Mama near to me.. At the end of the visit, Mama borrowed one set of blocks for me to play at home.

Initially, I was only interested in transferring the small little white blocks from one container to another. Then I progressed to changing the order of the blocks to form different structures like the one below.

I had been pretty occupied with these blocks for the past 1 to 2 weeks. But it seems like I am slowly losing interest...

(ok, Mama knows the 2 pictures are actually the same structure taken from slightly different perspectives but she has no other pictures yet and so she posted these 2. )